Arthritis and related diseases are claiming a tremendous, and increasing, segment of the population. It is seemingly more common to find more young people with arthritis, a disease formerly considered restricted primarily to the elderly.
So widespread is this affliction that those suffering from it have gone beyond the traditional, approved forms of medication, which ordinarily comprises higher and higher doses of aspirin and compounds containing aspirin: increasingly these medicines are being promoted through advertising media for the arthritic. The millions of dollars spent in all branches of the media, and particularly on television, evidences the fact that enormous numbers of people suffer from this disease, and thus an enormous market exists for the massive doses of aspirin promoted for arthritics.
Beyond aspirin, millions of arthritics turn to the controversial DMSO, the industrial solvent apparently having powerful analgesic properties for arthritics. Although not approved by the FDA for use as a medication, nonetheless the pain and loss of self-esteem coupled with loss of bodily function suffered by arthritics has been enough to drive them to use DMSO despite the unknown, potentially devastating side effects.
In addition to DMSO, along the Mexican border of the United States thousands of people from the United States and Canada congregate every year to cross the border daily for the treatment of arthritis with injections and pills which are not approved in the United States, but which seem to give such relief to the recipients that they are willing to make this migration over several thousand miles, several times a year.
As the post-world War II baby boom children increase in age into the years characterized by the high incidences of arthritis, undoubtedly the problem and the suffering together with the demand for greater relief, will increase dramatically.
In addition to the suffering from pain, the psychological burden of arthritis can be tremendous. As the hands become increasingly paralyzed, the arthritic must rely increasingly on other people to perform the simplest of chores. In particular, the hands are used to grip so many small objects like pens and pencils, knives, forks and spoons, a tooth brush, and other objects, that the untreated arthritic may ordinarily become very demoralized. He or she suffers a blow to his or her self-esteem each time he faces the inability to perform one of these common, every day activities, which evidence the freedom and the ability of the individual to care for his own needs.
Thus, the psychological devastation of seeing one's body slowly become paralyzed and seeing oneself become an increasing burden on friends, relatives and possibly the state, is potentially more harmful than the pair itself. There is virtually nothing more painful in the long run than the chronic erosion of one's self-esteem. Active, self-sufficient people with high esteem can survive infections and operations, and major setbacks in life, much more readily than can dependent persons whose self-esteem has been regularly, and severely, eroded.
There is thus a need for anything which would help arthritics, not only to relieve the pain of their arthritis, but also to enable them to become as self-sufficient as possible in the execution of the daily chores which non-arthritics so take for granted, but which for arthritics become agonizing chores with demoralizing results. The ability to simply feed oneself or use the phone, can make the difference between being independent or institutionalized for millions of Americans.
Whereas to date there has been a tremendous financial emphasis on selling arthritics pain relievers, and in other fields of disability there has been tremendous economic and medical activity in providing artificial limbs, organs and a wide variety of other prosthetics, little or no effort has been directed toward the development of prosthetic and semi-prosthetic devices to assist arthritics and others with manual and digital disabilities, along with disabilities of their other joints, to accomplish those functions of which the arthritis has deprived them.